How many new vape shops are bogus

[herb]

Went to a shop in Conway S.C after seeing advertisements claiming best prices anywhere on mods and what a disappointment . After looking around it was apparent everything was a clone , they fail to tell you that though , even all the accessories were clones , including Kanger Pro tanks, Iclears , even replacement head's etc...

How common is this?

Thank you

 

[Topacka]

Pretty common where I am (Seattle). If any vape shops around here even carry anything worthy of being cloned, then it's a clone. I saw an advertised authentic Origen and Aqua set up on display at my favorite one but they wouldn't sell it to me because it was a special order for one of the employees. Meh. I'm not one to complain if it works though. Got no problem buying clones.

 

[zahzoo]

I'd say quite common especially in recent months... But I wouldn't call them "bogus"...

Ya gotta look at the market overall. Most folks can't afford $120 for an authentic battery tube nor another $100 for the latest authentic RBA/RDA. I'm seeing maybe less than 20% of available stock in that realm. It just doesn't sell like the rest of the gear

You'll find most decent shops well stocked with authentic mid/low priced authentic gear like Kanger tanks/coils, maybe Aspire and a few others. A wide selection of eGo type batteries and most of your low/mid priced regulated mods.

Then you'll notice in many shops an expanding assortment of cloned mechanical mods and atty's... Nothing bogus about that end of the market exploding it's a reality and geared toward what consumers can afford.

 

[JMarca]

Authentic and clone is subjective, if you stamp My Mod Inc. onto a steel tube and then China comes out makes the same tube with or without my stamp, is my tube any better than the Chinese one?

Some clones are just as good as the "original" ones. Mind you some of these mod makers have alot of nerve making a mech mod chargind 200 dollars for it releasing a batch every 6 months and tooting their horn when they get cloned.

 

[Orobas]

I haven't been to my local brick-and-mortar in ages. They went and ...... me off. Convinced my sister-in-law to spend $80 on an iClear that was a version out of date, and convinced her that the variable voltage was for extending your battery life. Charge eight dollars for 10 mL of EC blend juice.

Competing store opened up here briefly. They had were the .... crappy knock off ego style batteries, and wanted to charge $10 for 10 mL of dekang juice. I laughed all the way out the door.

I'm on my phone right now, amusingly enough my voice to text function wrote out "decaying" instead of Dekang. How appropriate.

 

[optsmk]

Most of the places I have been to usually carry an assortment of clones and original devices. However, I did see one a few weeks ago and everything they had were clones. It's not that clones are bad, but what makes them bad are when they sell them at full retail price of the originals. Needless to say, I probably won't go back to that shop.

 

[Tinkiegrrl]

The issue for me isn't if they sell clones. It's if they're trying to pass off the clones as authentic and selling at authentic pricing. I'm not paying full price for a clone.

 

[optsmk]

^^^ What she said^^^

 

[Krieger]

Went into one of my local b&m a few weeks ago and had a guy behind the counter ask me what I was using for a wick. I replied organic cotton and he then proceeded to ask me "what ohms is your cotton"? Needless to say I won't be back.

 

[Mitchdisaster]

The one thing that the local B&M here did right was label all of their clones. They were also priced accordingly

 

[optsmk]

What's the name of your shop. I might come down and take a look if they are in the Bay Area. There is nothing wrong with a shop that sells clones IMO. Now if you had a Provari clone (which I have never seen or heard of) and you were selling it for $250.00, I would have a problem with that. But if they sell clones at clone prices. that's cool.

 

[JMarca]

I agree that clones shouldn't be even a 1/4 of the price as the "originals" but let me play devil's advocate here as well and say you can't expect a $19.90 fasttech mod to be sold for the same price. The problem with brick and morters is they have alot of overhead, so if you see a clone on fasttech and then see it again in a store for twice what Fasttech is selling for that's not really a rip off in my opinion. I'm only mentioning this because someone came up and said wow that clone is over priced while I was in the shop the other day, they need to understand a corner shop isn't Fasttech, and at least they get to leave with the mod same day not 2 weeks later.

 

[autobiogphnation]

I can only imagine what would be said at the shop i used to go to if I walked in there with my setups, but at least they carried authentic joyetech... I think I stopped going because a) over priced clearos b) didn't like joyetech batteries (that's the only brand they sold... Aside from a few mechs) c)very limited RDA/RBA, like 3 total. D)liquid was pricey even if it was specially made for them...

 

[Mofastermo]

amusingly enough my voice to text function wrote out "decaying" instead of Dekang. How appropriate.

That is so wrong, I just spit coffee all over my keyboard reading this.

 

[optsmk]

I agree that clones shouldn't be even a 1/4 of the price as the "originals" but let me play devil's advocate here as well and say you can't expect a $19.90 fasttech mod to be sold for the same price. The problem with brick and morters is they have alot of overhead, so if you see a clone on fasttech and then see it again in a store for twice what Fasttech is selling for that's not really a rip off in my opinion. I'm only mentioning this because someone came up and said wow that clone is over priced while I was in the shop the other day, they need to understand a corner shop isn't Fasttech, and at least they get to leave with the mod same day not 2 weeks later.

If they paid 20 bucks or so for a clone and sold it for 40 to 50 bucks, that would be cool. But if they sold them for let's say 250.00 that would be a total ripoff. I can order the original online for that price.

 

[optsmk]

I woulld love to come and check it out. Where is it located. I'm kind of a shopaholic when it comes to vape gear. Kind of like my ex wife was when it came to buying shoes and clothes. lol. I guess I can't talk bad about her shopping habits anymore.

 

[JMM57]

I went to a shop recently to buy a Nautilus. They had all clones clearly marked but what surprised me was the Nautilus clone was only $4 cheaper .. why bother?

 

[DoubleEwe]

"what ohms is your cotton"?

I am guessing you didn't reply with 'Around 2.64 megaohms when saturated'?

 

[optsmk]

I'll come by once I know you are open for business! I did find you on Yelp, so I'll keep an eye on you. Also, is the owners last name Smith and is he from Reno? I know a guy from there with that name. If it's him, I'll be there on opening day!

 

[dshgr]

Our local is a branch of the store with the Hana Mod pre-order cluster. Before I knew better they ripped me off on my ego starter kit. Juice is $1/ml and not very good.

I visit my mother in the Baltimore suburbs and found a store there that's reasonably priced and they taught me how to coil. Vape Dojo in Ellicott City.

Also just found Planet of the Vapes in Pasadena. Great bunch there and good juice with good prices. Huge selection of gear.

My cousin was here from SoCal and I got her started on vaping. We visited the good shops so she could see how she should be treated in a good place. When she got home she called me and said she can't find prices near her anywhere near as good as Vape Dojo and she loves their juice so she'll be ordering from them.

I think you'll come across the good and the bad in vape shops, just like anything else.